The Films of Frank Capra

Oh, come on, Mark. You know you were completely dismissive of those films Air Force and Wake Island. You were putting them down like they were some B-grade films filled with cliches and stereotypes. But if you discern some fine line between trashing and dismissing, I'll beg your pardon for the sake of polite discourse. I'm sorry, too, that you--ignore? dismiss?--the fact I agree with you on Capra and his films and focus only on our differences.

I'm simply pointing out that Capra's Why We Fight series was worthy of Oscar consideration as were the two feature films mentioned. In 1942, when the US was still gearing up to fight a world war after a Japanese attack, I can see a need for training films designed to convince a bunch of young draftees that they were in uniform for a good reason and not at just some government whim. I can see the need for sex education films for soldiers in their teens, many of them away from home for the first time. And I can see the need for films reminding people loose lips sink ships and encouraging workers not to "play sick" because it would hurt the war effort. But I also see things in both Capra's series and the feature films that lift them above the usual level of most propaganda efforts. I also question how great was the need for feature films to dispense propaganda in 1943, well into the war when many--likely most--families had one or more members in uniform and when hundreds of thousands in the movie audiences had been notified of loved ones who were dead or maimed or missing. Do you think those people and others living in fear of what the war would bring really needed a movie talking about "Japs" and "Nips" and "Krauts" to hone their anger against the common enemy? Weren't most Americans and Canadians and Brits and Australians and Free French and Russians and many others already saying such things--and worse? Seems to me more like an element of realism in those featured films that sounds worse to us now when Japan and Germany are allies in the war of those rotten terrorists.

If the war movies made in 1941-1945 were propaganda, they were remarkably unsuccessful. I remember research for a college term paper years ago that indicated no correlation between war films and enlistments during World War II. Among the most popular films during that period were many musicals and comedies. The statistics also showed that reports of Allied victories were usually followed by a dip in military enlistments, indicating the possible assumption of why do they need me if things are going well? On the other hand, news reports of Allied disasters often brought a surge in elistments. Like when cruiser Houston--named for the Texas city--went down. There was a drive started in Houston to replace the sunken ship with a new Houston. There was a local war bond drive that raised a large amount of money toward construction of a replacement vessel, and a recruitment drive that brought in more than enough local volunteers to replace the Houston crew who were killed or captured.

The only example I ever heard of a person enlisting after seeing a movie was Tony Curtis's claim that he joined the Navy and became a submariner after watching Cary Grant as the submarine commander in Destination Tokyo.

Not sure if you're referring to the Capra series or the feature movies; don't know who you're describing as "having a cow" or even what that's supposed to signify. But I hope I introduced some elements above that would stimulate your discussion instead of a flip dismissal. I have faith in your ability to discuss different view points as an adult.

I'm sure that I've watched Air Force and Wake Island a lot more times than you ever have, but I have no faith in you discussing anything as an adult. You always have to twist your definition into the right one for everything and you always have to have the last word about everything. You come up with tons of anecdotal evidence which you palm off as some form of "honest reporting of the facts" and turn almost every single thread into something 180 degrees away from what it's about. You've claimed in the past that Germans and Japanese of the WWII era were hateful automotons who commit atrocities and carried out the will of their Dictator-Gods without a second thought and that Leni Riefenstahl was a bitch. (Have you even seen a Riefenstahl film?)

I make a thread about Capra over a year ago, and you come in here and decide you'll take the opportunity to be an "adult" by trying to put me in my place in my own thread. So far, you've mostly made this Capra Appreciation thread into your own personal attempt to discuss something which wasn't meant for this thread, but if you really want to discuss racism instead of propaganda, we can do it. Just don't have a cow. You are an adult, right? If you've never heard the term before, use some inside journalistic knowledge and research it.


(Most of this has nothing to do with Capra, but it does have John Eisenhower's quote I used below. - Click on "Watch on YouTube")

Capra went out of his way to use Leni Riefenstahl's techniques to show the bad guys in a way with which you thoroughly agree. To me, if Riefenstahl's Nazi films are propaganda (and they are), then Why We Fight is, and if you don't see that, you need to watch them again ASAP because that would mean that Capra himself would have to say that he screwed up. Even Dwight D. Eisenhower's son David said "they were great propaganda" (see YouTube video above). Capra made the series to be shown to all servicemen and women before they went overseas during WWII. It was only after the high quality of the filmmaking was recognized by the War Dept. that they were released for general audience consumption. Let's see, as far as your comments that the most popular films made during WWII were comedies and musicals, I will agree with you. However, there were never more comedies and musicals ever made dealing with service personnel than there were during WWII. I hope this doesn't cause this thread to degenerate into something which has nothing to do with Capra Appreciation, but I'm adult enough to not only recognize that there are always two sides to a question but to discuss it if people think it merits it.

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Speaking of which...time sure flys Mark. It's funny...after I posted what I did about You Can't Take it With You, my daughter's school staged the play. I ended up seeing it twice there and another time at a community theater...and the film again. It was interesting to see the differences in the play and the film.

The play amped up my daughter's interest in Capra, so I rented Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and State of the Union since she was into politics this past year. "Filibuster!" She loved them.

I still have to see Platinum Blonde all the way through. I've only seen it in bits and pieces. Maybe by this time next year I'll have to revist this place again.

Your thread still makes a nice read.

i've seen many films by frank capra...most notably are meet john doe, mr smith goes to washington, pocketful of miracles (which was a remake of film he directed earlier called lady for a day), hole in the head, it happened one night, arsenic and old lace, lost horizon and it's a wonderful life..

i've seen one leni riefenstahl film, triumph of the will...while it was propaganda, it was well done and beautifully filmed (although the subject leaves a lot to be desired)..

propaganda was used extensively in ww2 from films to cartoons and was the order of the day...no one really saw anything wrong with them...

btw, thanks for starting this thread markf...i know i'm not here as often as i used to be, but i just stop in from time to time to see what's going on...

Thanks a lot, ani and susan. I take solace in female members, especially those who don't normally check my posts but show up when I need them.

Don't hold back, Mark, tell me what you really think.

Considering his most popular films have a populist stance, it's rather surpring to discover Capra was a Republican. Apparently, he got more far right in his later years and it cost him the opportunity to make a movie of Gore Vidal's play, The Best Man, which became a memorable movie starring Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson. He had his close friend, the extremely right wing Myles Connoly re-write it into something that had nothing to do with the play with different characters. Too bad. A younger Frank Capra would have stayed closer to the play and would have made a great movie from it.

People have been watching his films a lot lately, so why haven't there been any posts in here for six months?

Capra's Deeds and Smith and Wonderful Life, really capture Americana for me and tell us a lot about what folks were like. I'm not too familiar with some of his other work - I should be: but, there's so much candy to choose from . . .

I'm a big Jimmy Stewart fan, loved Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stewart gives a great performance. It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite Capra film and one of my favorite films of all time. I try to watch my dvd of It's a Wonderful Life every Christmas season.

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I'm new to this forum and sort of a new Capra fan. Actually, it turns out I've been enjoying Capra's films for many years without actually realizing it. "It's a Wonderful Life" has been my favorite movie for a long time, but it was only after I got the DVD a couple Christmases ago that I realized the same man also made other films I had enjoyed as a kid. Once I realized the same guy was responsible for "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," I had to see more. I've only seen 9 of his films so far (all in the last year), but I have really enjoyed all of them and look forward to seeing more. Here is how I'd rank the ones I've seen:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Meet John Doe
3. It Happened One Night
4. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
6. Arsenic and Old Lace
7. You Can't Take It With You
8. Lost Horizon
9. The Bitter Tea of General Yen

Arsenic and Old Lace and It Happened One Night are my two favorites of his because they're cute little screwball comedies. I generally like his light hearted stuff better than his heavy handed sentiment such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life, though you might say it's idealistic more than sentiment, which I certainly understand.

I don't mind his stuff that much and think he's a wonderful story teller who gets excellent performances out of his actors.

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I think Capra screwed up Arsenic and Old Lace by going over the top. Cary Grant is acting nuttier than his nutty relatives. That is not how it was intended when played on the stage. There are some reports Cary Grant was very unhappy with Capra and disliked the movie when he saw it.

Cary Grant is nuttier in his behavior and mannerisms, but not in his actions. He doesn't kill people. I've never read the play, nor have I seen it on stage, so I can only judge what I saw on screen and it's been around 10 years since I've watched it.

There is a TV production from the 1960s with Tony Randall and Boris Karloff. The story has been cut in half to fit a sixty minute format with commercials, and Karloff is a little too old at that point, but it is still pretty funny.

There are two earlier productions with Karloff, the 1955 one has Karloff and Peter Lorre and Helen Hayes is the most intriguing, but doesn't appear to be available, possibly a lost production.

Nice thread Marky How come i missed it

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Yeah, I've heard the reports that Cary Grant was not happy with the way the film turned out. From what I've heard, though, Capra wanted to up the ham-factor and allowed the actors to let loose on this one. I have not seen the stage version, either, but I love Capra's version. I think Grant is hilarious in it. I'm anxiously awaiting the DVD re-release next month so I can watch it again.

I watched the bonus features on my Lost Horizon DVD last night. Mostly because I just realized I hadn't watched them yet. I've watched all of the "Frank Capra Jr. Remembers..." pieces on my other Capra discs several times, but I hadn't watched these. I guess the idea of a "Photo Documentary" wasn't very appealing. However, I found these to be fascinating and even more interesting than Capra Jr.'s pieces. (I know a lot of people find him to be very dull, but I always enjoy listening to him talk about his father's work.) The part about Harry Cohn forcing Capra to shoot with Walter Connolly as the High Lama and then conceding that Jaffe was the better fit and reshooting the scene again - fascinating stuff. Too bad there aren't more in-depth pieces like these on other Capra DVDs.

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I enjoyed Capra's movies as a kid with the great stars like Grant and Stewart in them. It was films like 'It's Wonderful Like' amongst many others that got me addicted to the film industry.

Has anyone seen the short film Two Hours in the Dark?



Directed by Chip Hackler and starring Phillip DeVona as Frank Capra, the 35 minute film covers Capra's illness after It Happened One Night swept the Oscars and the visit from the "little man" who convinced Capra to that he should continue making pictures. After watching the trailer, I'd really like to see the whole thing. I find it odd that this is the only attempt I'm aware of at any kind of Capra bio-pic.